LIKE OTHER states, Georgia tries hard to lure Hollywood filmmakers to make movies here by offering tax breaks and other incentives.

Cutting unnecessary red tape should be part of the process — as long as the snipping is done carefully.

State Rep. Ron Stephens, who chairs the House Economic Development & Tourism Committee, has offered a bill that would streamline procedures for filming on Georgia’s beaches, where movies such as “The Last Song” (Tybee Island) and “X-Men: First Class” and “Glory” (both Jekyll Island) were shot.

Strictly speaking, filmmakers are required to get permits from the state Department of Natural Resources to haul their equipment onto the state-owned beaches and shoot. Getting such permission can take as long as six months and require public comment, with the important goal of insuring that beaches and the protective dunes and vegetation aren’t ruined.

But Mr. Stephens has identified a flaw in this process.

Some filmmakers who want to come to Georgia, he said, don’t want to disturb the beach. Instead, they simply want to lay down tracks for their cameras and shoot. So rather than forcing them to jump numerous, time-consuming hurdles, he wants them to be able to get a short-term, temporary permit from the DNR. That’s what this bill would allow.

It sounds reasonable. If there’s little or no disruption, why burden a filmmaker with unnecessarily delays that contribute to costs? The only thing that does is send needed jobs to other states.

Mr. Stephens’ bill merits approval, as long as the DNR director who’s issuing these temporary permits pays close attention to what filmmakers want to do and remembers that his first job is protecting public assets. It’s one thing to lay tracks for cameras. It’s another thing to disturb sand dunes and vegetation to get that perfect shot.

That’s serious business.

It was only a year ago when a Tybee Island motel owner hired laborers to illegally shovel sand in the middle of the night to remove a dune that he claimed had grown too tall in front of his motel. He could have faced a fine of up to $1.5 million; the DNR settled for $10,000, to be used to fund environmental education, along with the cost of restoring the dune.

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, points out that the bill (HB 402) apparently doesn’t have an appeal process that would allow filmmakers or the public the opportunity to challenge what the DNR director decides. If that’s the case, then such a provision should be added to improve fairness and transparency.

Mr. Herring said the bill maintains safeguards for assuring that filmmakers don’t harm the environment because the work would be done by licensed marine contracts who are required to be bonded. That’s a plus.

Also included in the measure is clear distinction on what constitutes a protected shoreline, which affects when filmmakers must get the state’s permission to shoot.

Right now, the protected area is determined to be as far inland as the first “vegetation” — a somewhat random measure. Mr. Stephens would specifically limit the protected shoreline to 100 feet above the ordinary high-water mark.

Whether the 100-foot rule provides sufficient protection is something that experts should address. But the rest of Mr. Stephens’ bill makes sense. The film and TV industry is now a $3 billion concern for Georgia. Removing unnecessary roadblocks that get in the way of needed jobs is worth pursuing.